ND:Sins of the Mother
by TheReptile
Summary: Sometimes Mother and Daughter are the same in more than talents. Sometimes childhoods can be eerily similar, and with Kyoko, history has a tendency to repeat itself.
1. Chapter 1

Quietly slipping into her room, Kyoko shifted over to her desk, gently rubbing the red mark on her cheek. Her mother, having been caught in one of her moods, took her frustrations out on her daughter, as she had for most of her life. Sitting in the chair, Kyoko took her schoolbooks out, and again took refuge in the safety of study. Mother didn't hit her when she was studying. Sometimes, she didn't even yell.

It wasn't her fault. She kept trying to tell herself, over and over again. Mother was just like that. Mother liked feeling like she was above everyone, always, and why shouldn't she? As one of the most decorated professors of her university, shouldn't she feel some sense of superiority towards others?

Perhaps, she thought to herself, but is it really necessary? Does she really need to go to such lengths?

Shaking her head, Kyoko focused on her studies. She didn't need mother to come in and see her spaced out. No, that would be unwholesome, undisciplined. Mother did tolerate lack of discipline, not from her students, not from her co-workers, and especially not her daughter. Not that there was anything else for her to do. Apart from the common necessities, a bed, dresser, desk, lamp, and such, there was almost nothing in Kyoko's room.

As she finished her studies, Kyoko took a look at herself in her mirror. The red welt, despite throbbing, would likely be gone by morning, and she would go on as usual. She considered herself a plain looking girl. Not one anyone would be interested in. Not someone like her...

_Worthless..._

She froze, breathless, as her mother's words echoed in her head.

_You are a worthless, ugly child. I have tried to make you great. Tried to make you like myself, but I can only do so much with so little._

She brought her arms around herself, shaking, the tears starting to form in her eyes.

_Look at you. You can hardly compose yourself. You can't even look anyone in the eye. Too think that you, of all people, could have been my daughter._

Hearing her mother come up the stairs, Kyoko turned her light off and quickly went to bed. As she heard her mother stop in front of her door, she held her breath, as if afraid that a single sound would provoke her. After what seemed like an eternity, her mother left, and from there, Kyoko Zeppelin Sohryu quietly slipped into a restless sleep.

* * *

**Nobody Dies : Sins of the Mother**

AKA Kyoko's Mom is a Big Fat Bitch, She's the Biggest Bitch in the Whole Wide World…

Chapter 1

* * *

"Hmm, passable, I suppose."

Madame Sohryu inspected her daughter, as she did every morning, dissecting every facet of her appearance, every detail. Any imperfection, no matter how small, would be unforgivable for _her_ daughter, and she always found an imperfection. So, being one of the few days her mother was satisfied, Kyoko let out a visible sigh of relief.

"What was that?"  
Kyoko stiffened, cursing herself for showing weakness. Staring into the disgusted eyes of her mother, she winced as she grabbed her face, nails digging into her skin.  
"... You're fine. Leave."

Grabbing her bag, Kyoko left the house as quickly as possible.

* * *

St. Bishop's was one of the most famous and reputable schools in Berlin, with many a parent's dream to be able to send their children, and as usual, many children dreaded going.  
Regardless, knowing that doing so could possibly mean a free ride through college, they went without (verbal) complaint.

"Langley!"

Pieter Langley stopped in his tracks, shifting to the side as the clamor in the halls continued. His friend, Tobias Beiermann, took him by the shoulder.  
"Listen, I need you to do me favor, a BIG one."  
Pieter eyed his acquaintance. He knew where these conversations lead to...  
"Do you think you could help me with some schoolwork?"  
"Do you think you could help me with some schoolwork?"  
Tobias stood there, dumbstruck, while Pieter started laughing.  
"What? What's so funny?"  
"Oh, nothing, I just figured that by now you'd probably ask someone else to do your work for you, I think the teachers are starting to get suspicious."  
Tobias scowled.  
"Hey, I don't ask you to do all my work..."  
"Oh, that's bullshit and you know it! Every year since primary school, you had me do your work a few weeks before exams, while you slack off the entire time. Then, the night before, you cram pretty much every note I write down for you and barely scrape by. Or did you forget how you got in this school in the first place?"  
Tobias shrugged.  
"Hey, the way I see it, don't mess with a system that works."  
Pieter groaned, rubbing his forehead.  
"Look, I'd help you, but I have my own workload to do. Or did you forget that these exams also determine which university we go to?"  
"Well, yeah. That's why I need your help. No, really, I'll pay attention this time!"  
"That's what you said last time!"

* * *

"So Pieter, what University do you plan on going to?"  
Inside the classroom, many of the students started gossiping about future prospects. It was a well known fact that most college placement was determined by the junior year, with senior being used for those with a particular profession in mind to take the required classes.  
"I don't know. Maybe central, or possibly St. Sebastian's. What about you Amelia? Knowing Tobias, you two probably aren't going toge... what?"  
Amelia Eilenberg, Pieter's classroom neighbor was eyeing him incredulously.  
"Sebastian's? Are you serious? Why... why would you..."  
Pieter stared at his friend.  
"What? What's the matter? Last I checked Sebastian was one of the best in Berlin."

Amelia grabbed him by the shoulders.  
"Look, Pieter, listen to me. As a friend, I'll give some advice right now: Do not. Go. To Sebastian's. My brother goes there, and according to him one of the professors is a complete harpy. Not only is she temperamental as all hell, but she's also one of the head of the disciplinary board, and she apparently takes a little too much pleasure in it."  
Pieter laughed.  
"Come on, I doubt she's that bad."  
Amelia shook her head.  
"Oh no, she is. My mother decided to invite her for dinner one night, and she drove her to a complete wreck. Even today just mentioning the name Sohryu is enough to have her break down in hysterics."

A bell ringed in Pieter's head.  
"Sohryu... why does that name sound familiar?"  
"Her daughter goes here. Blond, kind of pretty, never talks to anyone? I think you have couple of classes with her. She's a little better than her mother, at least. You never got the feeling that she was about to rip you in half when she was around."  
Huh, Pieter thought to himself, you'd think someone like that would stand out more.  
"Huh, I wonder about that. I should say hi to her if I see her."

* * *

"Pieter… Pieter…. Pieter STOP!"

Tobias grabbed his friend before he could drive his head into the desk again. After about an hour of study in the library, Pieter had effectively reached the breaking point.

"How… how can you, I don't get it. This is basic Trigonometry, how can you screw it up this badly? I mean you never were that good at math, but this is ridiculous!"

Tobias shrugged.

"I dunno. To be honest I didn't even want to take this course but Amelia insisted. Although I do have to admit, physics turned out pretty interesting."

"You're barely passing that too!"

"Which is a lot more than I can say about this."

Pieter groaned, palming his face as he was mentally preparing himself for the verbal bitchslapping his best friend's girlfriend was going to give them. Ever since the year started Amelia was all over Tobias to get his grades up, since she wanted to the two of them to go to the same university. Of course, since Tobias had about as much an attention span as a five year old on a caffeine high, Pieter unofficial job as Tobias' academic bailout was put into overdrive. Still, he couldn't really fault her since he was in real danger if flunking out of the school, she could have just been a bit more lenient on the subject.

"Ugh, let's just call it a day, alright?"

* * *

Kyoko let out an aggravated sigh. Those two had effectively been back and forth for the past hour and almost nothing had been done except aggravate everyone in the immediate vicinity. Admittedly, she felt a bit sorry for Langley, since Beiermann was obviously a lost cause, but she reasoned that anyone who willingly signed up to tutor him multiple times had a twisted sort of masochistic personality. Although she was surprised at how well read he was on history, even correcting his study mate on a few select subjects.

Still, it didn't really explain how just how exactly he managed to get _into _St. Bishop's. Indeed, it was one of the schools more prevalent mysteries among the student body. Not that she held any interest in rumors, but she couldn't deny the fact that she was annoyed that such a blatant idiot got into one of Berlin's top private schools.

Even more baffling was why Pieter Langley consistently associated with him. He was in the upper middle class St. Bishop's student hierarchy, not too popular but not dislike either, as well as one of its more academically advanced students. Apparently a few of the more flighty members of the female student population had also taken a liking to him, but to his credit he seemed to focus more on his studies, never socializing with anyone outside of Beiermann and Eilenberg. For her credit, Kyoko herself had a healthy interest in him, but something else also turned her off. As Eilenberg said in one of the few conversations she had with her,

"Pieter's nice, and he'll try and help you when he can, but he also has a bad habit of splitting when things get difficult. He tries to avoid difficult problems than deal with them upfront, and often avoids uncomfortable subject matter."

Still, he seemed to be more sensible than most of the other student body, and she wouldn't mind getting to know him more. But anything close to resembling an intimate relationship, that was something mother would never let happen.

Shaking her head, Kyoko got up from her seat and headed for the library's exit, dropping off a few of her borrowed textbooks.

"Leaving, Ms. Sohryu?"

Stopped by Ms. Schrader's question, Kyoko faced the elderly librarian and gave a small, if sincere smile.

"Yes, Madame, I'm finding it hard to concentrate on my studies lately, so I might as well return these."

The old woman nodded, wearing the warm smile she always had.

"Alright then. Goodbye. Oh, and Kyoko?"

The girl stopped at the door.

"Yes?"

"You really should smile more often, you look much prettier when you do."

To that, there was no answering remark.

* * *

AN:Side story of Eva fanfic Nobody dies, by Gregg Landsman.

Received approval from Gregg to start this, been in the back of my head for a while. So far reception on the forums have been good.

Basically, I've been wondering about the pasts of some of the adults in the story, so decided to have some fun :)

I was going to do Yui, but that kind of hit a road block, so a certain someone decided to take up that mantle known as Itty Bitty Ikari on the forums.


	2. Chapter 2

"Finally, some progress."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Pieter sat at his desk as he focused on his studies. The escapade at the library was the last sign of the obvious message that was clear to him, and so many others, for quite a while:

Tobias was, frankly, impossible to tutor.

At the very worst, if he didn't show interest in a subject, nothing could possibly convince him to pay attention, which led to many, many, MANY frustrating afternoons. Finally reaching his breaking point, Pieter confronted Amelia almost immediately after leaving the library and told her, point blank, that despite Tobias being his best friend, he was not going to tutor him anymore. His jaw was still hurting from where she decked him.

000

"Listen Langley," she told him, "I know Tobias isn't the easiest person to teach, but he _needs_ this."

Pieter, rubbing his jaw, slowly got to his feet, knowing full well that any wrong action at this point could end very badly for him. While she was normal a caring girl, Amelia was very confrontational about their grades, especially Tobias, and he knew full well why. Amelia wanted to spend her college years with Tobias, a relationship was going three years strong at this point, which was becoming strained by the fact that it was very unlikely that Tobias was going to be able to go with her to any of her universities of choice. In hindsight, it was not one of the best decisions of theirs to have them all go to St. Bishops. It wasn't like Tobias was stupid; it was just that Bishop's curriculum was far to advanced for him.

Shrugging, Pieter could only shake his head.

"I'm sorry, Amie, but I'm not a miracle worker. We all knew him coming here wasn't going to work out well, and frankly I'm impressed he's doing this well. To his credit, he is passing, if barely. Really, math isn't his strong suit at all, if he could drop that there really wouldn't be a real problem…"

Amelia's eyes lit up.

"Really!"

"N-no, not really. I mean, he wouldn't be in danger of failing, but it's still very unlikely you'd be able to go to the same school."

The remark, and really, the entire conversation, didn't seem to fully register, however, as Amelia spent the entire walk home still trying to convince him to continue with Tobias.

000

Letting out a sigh, Pieter started on his studies, with a knot forming in his stomach as he saw one of his lifelong friends drive herself mad trying to have her future with her boyfriend. After reading the first few paragraphs of his _Introduction to English _textbook, however, the knot grew a bit tighter. After about twenty minutes, he got up, went into the family room, and picked up the telephone.

"Hello?"

"Fine, I'll keep doing it."

The squeal Amelia let out could honestly be heard from indoors. No small feat considering she was three houses away.

**Nobody Dies : Sins of the Mother**

**Chapter 2**

"Please, Elisa, this isn't necessary."

"Silence, Miss. Your mother may be my employer, but even I can't ignore this."

Kyoko gave an annoyed glance towards the housekeeper, Elisa Randell, but nonetheless allowed her to look over the bruises on her face. Mother had gotten into one of her drunk stupors struck across the face, slinging insults towards her all the while.

"Please, don't. Mother's done much worse than this..."

Elisa's eyes narrowed, a sharp intake of breath as she tried to keep from yelling

"Yes," she said, her voice a constrained whisper, "yes, I know. I've heard the things she's called you. I still can't believe a mother would treat her child like that. Her own flesh and blood..."

A soft laugh, and Kyoko gave the housekeeper a small smile. Not a happy one, nor sad, but one of utter resignation and acceptance.

"But that's it. To her, I'm not her daughter, or her flesh and blood, or anything, really. I'm her legacy, and anything short of absolute perfection will not be tolerated. She will not be associated with 'garbage'."

Kyoko got up, and once more gave the housekeeper the same blank look whenever this happened, her eyes empty and helpless.

"Thank you Elisa. I'll think I'll be heading to bed now."

And as Kyoko left the sitting room to her bedroom, Elisa, not for the first time, felt the urge to hold the poor girl in front of her like a mother would a lost child. The dreams had that night were not pleasant by anyone.

000

"I still don't know why you're helping me with this, Langley. It's a lost cause. You know that, we've told Amelia hundreds of times..."

With the first period being Study Hall, Pieter felt it would be a good idea to get some work with Tobias done early, and while there were actual results, they weren't exactly building confidence, either.

"She's persuasive. You know this. It comes with the territory of being class president."

Tobias gave him a blank look.

"Dude, knowing you, you probably felt guilty and agreed after telling her point blank you were done."

"What... How the hell do you do that?" Pieter asked, an annoyed look on his face. Tobias always managed to guess whenever Pieter decided to do, what he called, a "charity case". It never really occurred to him that he was more than a bit predictable, and it really annoyed Tobias whenever he was the case in question. "Whatever, I've got enough problems on my mind. How the hell are you going to make this work."

Tobias leaned back in his chair, the look in his eyes growing a bit more sullen.

"Honestly? I don't know. This is killing Amelia, and I hate seeing her like this. Pieter, I seriously think I'm in love with this girl. I still feel the same way I did back when I first asked her a few years ago, and everything's just _right_ when I'm with her."

"But wait," Tobias's face suddenly turned into mock surprise, "that's right, how could possibly understand what I'm going through, considering you and your obvious ladykiller tendencies?

Pieter gave out an exaggerated groan, rubbing his fingertips against his forehead to this statement. "You know, you really are a dick sometimes. Could we not bring this up? Is it really that hard to believe that I just don't have any desire to date anyone at school?"

Tobias gave a small laugh.

"Oh, I can get that you don't feel like dating anyone in school. Hell, I haven't even seen you show interest in a girl, _period_. But at the same time, that's just what astounds me, considering that I know for a fact that at least half of the girls in our year would date you in a heartbeat. Hell, a few seniors would probably take the chance, too."

All he got was a rather halfhearted shrug in return.

"What can I say?" Pieter responded, "I just don't feel that way about anyone I've met."

Tobias grunted.

"Whatever. Just, when you do manage to find someone, don't do anything stupid, okay? The last thing I'd want to hear is that you're partly responsible for ruining a girl's reputation."

Pieter laughed.

"Defending another woman's honor? Oh how delightful. And yet," Pieter said rather incredulously, "I feel as if you're serious about that."

Tobias cracked his knuckles, a smug smile on his face. Boasting was one of his strengths.

"Oh yes. I'm the very model of chivalry. It pains to to know that a woman is in suffering. Especially if someone I call a friend has caused it. You could say I'm regular knight in shining armor, if you will."

It was a half-sarcastic, half-serious reply.

Their laughter was cut short when Amelia ran into the classroom, a smile on her face a mile wide.

Skidding to a stop a the desk they were at, she then got stuck between trying to catch her breath and rant to them about whatever it is she's just done.

"Good god, Amie," Pieter told her, "BREATHE."

"You'll...never guess... what I just managed to do!"

000

"No. Nonononononononononono. No. Not happening, Eilenberg. EVER."

Amelia was practically jumping up and down trying to, more than just somewhat in vain, convince the blond haired girl in front of her.

"PLEASE. ! You've got some of the highest grades in the entire school, I'm sure you of all people could get him to pay attention. C'mon, I thought we were friends!"

Kyoko scoffed, "What would ever possess you into thinking we were friends? Just because I don't consider you an idiot doesn't mean I have a very high opinion of you."

Amelia stood there in shock for a moment. However, she quickly got a mischievous gleam in her eye.

"Oh, I see. You're saying you can't do it."

Kyoko, her back turned, and walking away, stopped dead in her tracks.

"Excuse me?"

000

"Kyoko Sohryu? You got Kyoko Sohryu?" Tobias's expression, previously locked into a slackjawed state of shock when he first heard the news, started forming into something similar to rage. "Why the hell would think it would be a good idea to get Kyoko fucking Sohryu? Goddamit, I'm not going through this again..."

"Again?" Pieter asked, somewhat confused, "You mean she's helped you before?"

"No, but we've worked together. Remember last year when I had to help out in the library?"

"That was your own damn fault." Amelia told him, more than just a little annoyed. "You totaled a quarter of the library with that little stunt of yours."

Tobias shrunk in his seat a little bit at this.

"How many time do I have to tell you? It was an accident, I just tripped and knocked into one of the bookcases. It's not my fault that it was top heavy..."

"Oh god that was hilarious", Pieter said to himself. It really was one of the funniest things he'd ever seen. Unfortunately, his word alone wasn't enough to get Tobias off the hook, and was he was stuck helping in the library for about two months because of it.

"Anyway, how exactly do you know Kyoko?" 

"Yeah, well, at the same time, she was helping out there for reasons that are beyond me, and dear god she's the epitome of arrogant, bitchy, ice queen girl. Try and start a conversation and she'll just look at you like you're some goddam idiot, and any question's I might have asked she always answered like I should have already known them. I still don't know what her problem was."

Pieter raised an eyebrow

"Tobias," he said, "I think her problem was that she thought you were a... well, goddam idiot."

"Huh?"

Tobias sat there with an oblivious look on his face, shifting he head between Amelia and Pieter.

"Why? What did I do to make her think that?"

"Well..." Amelia responded, a hesitant tone in her voice and apologetic look in her eye, "it might have something to do with the fact that you have the attention span of a squirrel. Your tendency to say some really insensitive things to people. You probably said something to her that you really shouldn't have."

"But that's just the thing, I barely said anything to her! The one time I tried to strike up conversation she froze up so badly I swear the temperature drop about 3 degrees!"

Pieter rubbed his nose in exasperation.

"What did you say? I mean seriously, getting someone to hate your guts after one conversation is a new record, even for you."

"I didn't SAY anything!" Tobis barked, starting to get irritated. "Okay, you want to know what happened? Three days after I get started, in comes Katherine Gunther, you remember her right? She made that big scene with her boyfriend, some of the faculty had to break it up before it got nasty? Well I guarantee this happened not a week before..."

000

Kyoko picked up the book at the checkout, eyeing it's title.

"The Secret's of Love." The sound of disdain in her voice was palpable. "What do you need this for?"

Katherine blushed and looked down a bit. Despite being a year above Kyoko, she was still a rather meek girl, and was afraid to talk about her personal life.

"Uhm... it's me and Tyler. We, well we haven't really been talking much lately, and I think he's been thinking about breaking it off."

Kyoko gave out a laugh.

"If it's bad enough where you have to go to the books, it's probably done for. Most likely he's just bored with you."

Katherine froze up, her eyes widening a little.

"Wh-why would you say that?"

Another half-hearted laugh, this one icy in tone.

"Please, you're about as interesting as watching paint dry. I've seen you in here before with him. Almost all of your conversations were him talking and you giving one-worded answers. Not once have I ever seen or heard actually take charge of the conversation. Hell, this idiot,"

She pointed towards Tobias, who was busy organizing the card catalog,

"has a more fulfilling relationship than you do."

"Hey," Tobias interjected, "Don't get me involved in this!"

Kyoko stamped the book, giving it back rather forcefully.

"Here. You're wasting your time though. Wouldn't surprise me if he already had somebody on the side."

As soon as she finished her sentence, Katherine ran out as fast she could, nearly tripping on her feet.

Tobias stood there, his mouth agape.

"Okay, what the hell? What was that?

Kyoko eyed him incredulously.

"What was what?"

Tobias motioned to the library doors.

"Th-that! Why the hell would you say those things to her! And why the hell did you mention me, what did I have to do with that conversation?"

"It's not my fault she's living in denial," Kyoko said, "and you are in no position to criticize me about the what I say to people, you insensitive jackass."

Tobias threw up his hands in defense.

"Okay, okay, fine. I admit, I have about as much social tact as a drunk hippopotamus, but even I wouldn't say THAT to somebody. Or at least not like that!"

Kyoko turned her back, resuming her stamping of returned books.

"Okay, why are you so bitter? I haven't heard you say a single nice thing to anyone since I've been here. I mean, seriously, what were you, raised by a screaming banshee or something?"

Kyoko froze in place, slowly turning around and gave an icy glare.

"Uh... okay," Tobias said, a chill going down his spine, "Uhm, what's with the stare of death?"

All of sudden Kyoko turned around and grabbed her backpack, heading for the door.

Tobias called after her, "Whoa, wait a minute, where are you going?"

"Leaving." She responded, her voice filled with enough hostility that it made him jump a bit.

"Wait, wait you can't just leave me here by myself!"

"Yes." She said, looking back at him, her eyes filled with anger, "yes I can."

And then, with a slam of the doors, she was gone.

Tobias looked around, the rest of the people in the library looking at him.

"Okay, what the hell did I say?"

000

"So, she storms out, leaves me to take care of both returns, organization, and other such things, and was probably the trigger to what is now known as the 'St. Bishop's Meltdown'. Still, Kyoko getting chewed out the next day was pretty nice."

"So... you questioned her upbringing and all of a sudden she hates your guts?" Pieter asked, eyebrow raised in bemusement, "I don't know, there's something not right here."

"Like I said," Tobias replied, a small but noticeable tint of irritation in his voice, "I have no clue what I said to piss her off or why it pissed her off, but she brushed me off for the rest of the month. Which was perfectly fine by me, since I just wanted to get that done and over with and she just made it drag on forever. But anyway,"

He turned to Amelia,

"I am not going to be tutored by Kyoko Sohryu. End of story."

Amelia leaned forward until she was a few inches from Tobias's face, her once joyful face now completely serious. An audible gulp, and he shrank down in his seat just slightly.

"Yes, you are." She said matter-of-factly, "Pieter is way too lax with you to get anything done..."

"Oh thanks a lot," Pieter retorted rather sarcastically.

"Shut up."

"Yes ma'am."

"Like I said, Pieter is way too lax with you, and whenever I help you we tend to get... uhm..."

Her serious demeanor dropped a little bit as she got just a bit flustered, "Uhm, well, you know..."

"Intimate?" Pieter finished for her.

"Sure, we'll go with that." Tobias answered.

"Anyway," Amelia continued, "Fact of the matter is that neither of us are really able to get you to pay attention without it breaking into some sort of distraction. At least now I know that you and Kyoko aren't going to get into some sort of little chat about your day."

"No," Tobias admitted, shifting in his seat rather uncomfortably, "But we spend the entire time screaming at each other."

"Which is why I'll be with you two. I have stuff I need to look up too, so I'll be watching you to make sure something gets done. Got it?"

Tobias nodded anxiously, like a child being scolded and then told what to do. As Amelia left the classroom, Tobias leaned over to Pieter.

"Remind me why I'm going out with her again?"

Pieter shrugged. "Because you've known each other since you were five years old?"

"Huh," Tobias leaned back in his chair, "Pretty sure it was because she's the only person in this school who doesn't think I'm an insufferable jackass."

"What, are you saying that if someone else came along you'd drop her?"

Tobias looked over at Pieter, a smile on his face.

"Are you kidding? I'd never leave her. She's the world to me. She's the only reason I'm going to put up with Kyoko."

As the bell was getting close to ringing, both were packing there stuff for their next classes.

"She's right though," Tobias suddenly said. "This isn't working. Who knows, maybe something different will happen with Kyoko. I can't imagine what, but it's better than not doing anything."

000

"How long have they been at it?"

"10. Minutes." Amelia answered, her hand covering her face. "They've been at it for 10 minutes. I am seriously starting to lose my patience."

The scene in front of Pieter was mildly entertaining he had to admit, with his best friend in the middle of a screaming match with a blond haired girl about 2 inches shorter than him in the middle of the school library. He'd assumed the librarian either wasn't there or was just too scared to get in the middle of the argument, because she was nowhere to be seen.

"So..." Pieter asked, "How exactly did this start?"

Amelia gave a sigh.

"Well, Kyoko started by calling Tobias one of the most insensitive jackasses she had ever met, and then Tobias retorted that that was one of the most hypocritical statements he had ever heard. It sort of

escalated from there."

"Okay, seriously, what is your problem? You are one of the most uptight girls I have ever seen in my life, and that is saying something considering some of the ladies in this school."

Kyoko's nostrils flared in rage, while Tobias was busy giving here the evil eye as their aargument started heating up.

"My problem, I think you'll find, is the fact that you keep making comments like that! You have absolutely no consideration for the feelings of others, and you act like it's not even a big deal! I'm still wondering why she-"

She motioned toward Amelia.

"Is still putting up with you!"

"Okay, that's it." Amelia retorted, marching towards the two.

"Oh no." Pieter whispered, getting ready for impact.

Amelia slammed her hands onto the table they were at, her face in what Pieter and Tobias called her "I am absolutely fucking serious right now, so shut up and listen" mode. Tobias winced slightly, knowing what was coming, while Kyoko jumped, her eyes wide and hands coming up as if to defend herself.

"Both of you. Shut up. _Right now_"

She looked at Kyoko, who looked like a deer in the headlights.

"Kyoko, I didn't ask you to point out everything wrong with my boyfriend, I asked you if you could help wuth his studying, and that's it. Now, do you think you can help."

Kyoko nodded hastily, a little shaken.

"Good, now Tobias," she looked at her boyfriend, "You said you'd give this a shot, but right now you're doing everything possible to sabotage this. I don't care if you don't like Kyoko, you _will_ do this, got it?"

"Yes ma'am." Tobias replied, like a child who was told to apologize for what he's done.

"Okay, good." Amelia said, calming herself down a little, "Now I'll be over there with Pieter looking over you both, and if I have to come over here one more time you'll be sorry, got it?"

Both of them gave an awkward nod.

"Good."

000

"Good going, mom." Pieter snorted.

"Shut up," Amelia told him. "They were actually getting some progress done when Kyoko ran her mouth."

Pieter looked over at the blond with Tobias.

"So that's Kyoko, huh? She's a bit jumpy, isn't she?

Amelia shrugged.

"Well, Tobias is right, she is a bit high strung. But still," She glanced over at the blonde haired girl, "I don't think I've her seen her react like _that_ before."

Pieter chuckled.

"She was probably surprised at the fact that you can actually get mad. It'd be enough to shock anyone in this, Little Miss Nice Girl."

Amelia slapped him on the side of the head.

"Do'n't push me, Langley."

"Okay, okay, fine." Pieter brought his hands in defense, a sarcastic smile on his face. "Still, she isn't exactly what I expected.

Amelia raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? What where you expecting?

"I don't know," He admitted, "I just thought she'd be... meaner looking. I mean, with her reputation I thought she'd look a bit like a harpy. Get rid of the scowl and she'd actually be kind of cute."

"Oh what is this?" Amelia asked in faux-shock, "Pieter Langley showing interest in a girl?"

"No, nothing like that," He said, "She just, wasn't what I expected."

"Hey, I told you she was noce looking, didn't I?" Amelia told him, "She'd probably have quite a few guys going after her if it weren't for her attitude."

"Hm, really." He replied.

As he got up to leave, Pieter brought Amelia out of earshot of the other two, a serious expression on his face.

"Amy, answer me this. Was the whole point of this really to give Tobias a new tutor, or just so Kyoko wouldn't be alone all the time?"

Amelia gave him a coy smile.

"Now why would you ask that?"

"Because I did some asking around, and that girl doesn't have any friends, anyone she hangs out with, she just goes to classes, spends some time in the library, and heads straight home. That's a pretty lonely way to live, and you'd be the last person to let that go."

Amelia walked back to her table, her knowing smile still on her lips.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Pieter sighed, slinging his backpack on his shoulder proceeded to leave the library.

"And to answer your question, Pieter", Amelia whispered, once she was sure he wasn't within earshot, "Yes, and yes."


End file.
